


From Moon To Moon

by izzybeth



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Community: rs_games, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-09
Updated: 2011-12-09
Packaged: 2017-10-27 02:48:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/290831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/izzybeth/pseuds/izzybeth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's 1426 AD. Sirius travels East along the Silk Road and meets a wolf.</p>
            </blockquote>





	From Moon To Moon

**Author's Note:**

> Modern spellings of medieval people/cities/countries/etc. will be used for clarity’s sake. I couldn't have done this without continual hand-holding and arse-kicking from Claire, and so so many thanks to Natlet for the last minute beta and thoughtfulness. And hurrah for Team Remus, the team's captains, and the Games' mods, for making this such a wonderful and enjoyable experience! Thank you!

April 1426 AD

Marco Polo had not actually gone to Samarkand, but the side tale in The Travels about the floating church had only made Sirius more insatiably curious. So he'd bought his way into a muggle caravan leaving from Acre in the Holy Land, stocked himself up with not-so-muggle books and potion ingredients, and headed east from England.

As it happened, Sirius discovered that The Travels had given a number of other wizards besides him itchy feet as well. In Paris he quickly made friends with three magical folk going to join the same caravan: a young married couple and their companion, all three English like him.

The travelers spent an enjoyable few days in Venice while waiting for their passage to Candia. The first thing the four of them did was to get hopelessly lost in the tiny streets trying to find a decent place to eat. Once they'd found a friendly inn, each of them asked a different Venetian for directions back to the docks, and each received a completely different route. It was only Peter's use of the 'point me' spell that saved them from wandering the canals forever.

Sirius insisted upon visiting the grave of Marco Polo, even though it was in a muggle church. "Just try and contain yourself, all right? No magic," said James, but Sirius conjured a nice bunch of daisies anyway, when he thought no one was looking.

A ship took them from Venice to Candia, and another ship took them to Acre, where the four travelers met up with the muggle caravan, and set off into the unknown desert.

"So, I don't suppose you actually know how to get to Samarkand, do you?" James raised an eyebrow. "Since it doesn't say in The Travels?"

"'Course," said Sirius, though he knew no such thing. "And if we bollocks it up, we can always ask a local."

Lily squinted at him in the hot sun even as she clapped a hand over James's mouth. "He was about to say words no Christian man should ever say."

"Lucky we're not Christian, then," muttered Sirius.

"I've been there," said Peter.

The other three turned to look at him.

"I have!" Peter wiped his face, which was red from the heat. "Last time I came out this way. I hit Samarkand on the way back to Constantinople. Not even wotsisface muggle, famous traveler bloke can say that."

"Yeah, but can you find it coming from the other direction, though?" James asked.

"...Maybe."

"Great."

They walked in silence for a time. James found a long branch, cracked it in half, and handed one piece to Lily to use as a walking stick over the sandy ground. Sirius side-eyed it, slightly envious.

"Why d'you want to go to Samarkand, anyway?" Peter asked. "It's not as good as Delhi, or even Baghdad. It's barely a pit stop between Kashgar and Bukhara. Water your mules, swap travel stories, and get out. There are plenty of caravanserai that are better."

"You obviously have no romance in your soul," Sirius sniffed. "I don't know what mud clump you went through, but it certainly wasn't Samarkand." He cast about briefly for something that might act as a walking stick. Nothing but scrubby plants and dusty dirt for miles, and not a chance he could transfigure a twig into a branch without a muggle noticing and calling it a bloody miracle. "Timur the conqueror--"

"Timur the Lame, you mean," interrupted James.

"Shut up-- brought all the best artisans and craftspeople to Samarkand and built it into a beautiful city. It's a center of scholarship, trade, and the arts."

Peter snorted. "After slaughtering everyone else in sight. That man was a nightmare. Anyway, I know I was in Samarkand, and it wasn't that impressive."

"Fine," said Sirius. "You don't have to go with us, then. I'll find out what made that church float myself."

That, as Sirius intended, got Peter's attention. Peter begged him to tell the story, and the next few hours were filled with some of Marco Polo's better tales. As was his right as storyteller, Sirius embellished them as he saw fit, throwing in gratuitous allusions to eastern magic that Polo couldn't possibly have known of. If Sirius's audience actually believed him, that was their own problem.

\---

Sirius watched as the smudge on the horizon grew agonizingly slowly into a town, and he couldn't have been more pleased to see it. He'd more than had it with weeks upon weeks of dust, sand, filthy caravanserais full of thieves and scammers fleecing innocent travelers, and camping in freezing desert nights. He'd also earned the scorn of James and Lily for being unable to learn any Persian beyond his usual assortment of curse words. All he wanted was to get to bloody Samarkand already, sleep for fourteen hours in something that wasn't a bedroll, wake up, have tea and kebabs, and then find the local wizards.

Sirius really hoped the smudge on the horizon was Samarkand, and not a herd of antelope, a dust cloud, or another fucking caravanserai. He was so fixed on the town in the distance that he didn't notice when the muggle caravan ground to a halt, and James had to haul him back by the collar to avoid running into a camel.

"Wait, we're stopping?"

James dropped his pack to the sand. "It's dusk. Or haven't you noticed?"

Sirius had not, but wasn't about to mention it. "But we're so close!" He flapped an arm toward the town.

"You want to keep going?" James asked. Sirius nodded vigorously. "Fine. Have fun getting stung by scorpions, and bitten by snakes, and attacked by wild... _things_." James went to join Lily and Peter, who were unpacking their bedrolls and starting a fire. "See you later," he said over his shoulder. "Don't die."

Sirius hitched his pack up further over his shoulder, gestured to the muggle leader of the caravan that he was continuing on, and stomped off into the brush, muttering darkly about rule-following, muggle-whipped wizards with no sense of adventure.

He had only been walking for half an hour before it was fully dark. A tiny, cautious voice in the back on Sirius's mind wondered if this had really been such a great idea, but the much larger, Gryffindor section of his brain shouted it down immediately. Of course this was a good idea! Look at the stars, weren't they amazing? And the desert by starlight! You didn't get landscapes like this in rainy old England, now, did you? And look at that, was that a baby acromantula on Sirius's boot?

No. No, it was not, it was just a bloody great spider about to crawl up Sirius's trousers. He yelped, kicked out, and sent the spider flying. Much better. Now which way was the town again?

Sirius made his slippery way up a sand dune to have a look around. After a moment, he spied firelight winking from the right direction. Obviously he was a natural navigator.

He turned to slide back down the dune, and stopped dead. On the sand in front of him sat a large grey wolf.

Instinctively, Sirius glanced up at the sky. No moon at all. A true wolf was still rather dangerous to humans though. Yet this one just sat there, gazing at Sirius with mild interest. Sirius slowly cocked his head toward the town. "If I try to leave, you won't hunt me down and kill me, will you?" He asked softly. The wolf lazily pawed once at the ground, a gesture Sirius could only interpret as _Maybe_.

He took one step onto the sliding sand. The wolf sniffed, but didn't move. Encouraged, Sirius started a slow shuffle down the dune, digging in his heels for balance. When he reached the bottom, he looked back up to the dune's ridge. The wolf was gone.

Sirius therefore felt entirely justified when he jumped out of his skin at the playful yap at his side. The wolf grinned at Sirius, teeth on full display, tongue lolling, tail wagging frantically. Obviously it had no intention of harming Sirius. "Bloody hell, wolf." The wolf looked far too pleased with itself. "Look, I'm going to that town, and I don't think you'll be very welcome there." He started walking toward the town. To his irritation, the wolf yapped again, and kept perfect pace with him. Sirius stopped walking. The wolf stopped too, sat down, and looked up at Sirius. "Wolf! What do you want? I don't have any food." The wolf actually seemed to shrug. "Fine, do as you please."

The wolf trotted alongside Sirius until they reached the edge of the oasis that the town was near. It stopped, turned in a circle a few times and lay down, tail covering its nose.

Sirius turned to look at it. "No further, then?"

The wolf sighed.

"Probably for the best. Not all humans are as nice as me." Sirius had the ridiculous urge to scratch the wolf between its ears. "Thanks for the company."

The wolf leapt to its feet, barked once, and then streaked away into the desert night.

Sirius watched it go, and then turned back to cross the oasis. The flickering fires of the town were just on the other side now, though there were fewer. The stars had moved quite far across the sky since the sand dune.

\---

Sirius stretched, and felt his spine crack from neck to hips. No more sleeping in doorways for him; he was far too old for those sorts of shenanigans. He squinted up at the sky. The sun was well up, and Sirius was a bit surprised he hadn't been ousted from his doorway with a kick to the ribs, or a bucket of smelly water to the face. About time he searched for James, Lily, and Peter.

The sun hit him full in the face as he exited the dim alley where he'd found his doorway, and Sirius grinned. He'd obviously stumbled across the market without even trying. Of course, just the sort of thing a dashing, intelligent, natural navigator like Sirius would do.

He let himself be swept along with the people, who were in the full swing of market day. Old men wearing turbans with gaps in their teeth argued at full volume over the price of a bolt of linen with aged women with salt-and-pepper hair and impossibly wrinkled faces. Young women wearing beautifully woven cloth of brightly dyed cotton and silk joked with their friends and searched among the produce stalls for the juiciest dates. Young men, barefoot and shirtless, play-fought with their friends and tried to impress the girls. Even the houses and shops were beautiful, with elegant drapery in the windows and colorful tiles on the outer walls, shining in the sunlight. All around Sirius, vendors made their pitches, customers haggled, musicians sang and played, banners snapped in the breeze, dogs barked, children laughed, donkeys brayed, chickens squawked, friends greeted each other, and Sirius fell utterly in love. This had to be Samarkand.

He felt around in his pockets for a coin, found a man running what seemed to be a very popular tea service, and with only slight lingual difficulties, purchased a cup of steaming green tea and an interestingly plump dough pocket, which contained lamb and potato. Sirius found a patch of wall to lean against, eat his breakfast, and watch the action.

"Sirius!"

Sirius jerked his head away from intense contemplation of a cat licking itself in a window. A flash of red hair amongst all the dark heads caught his eye, and suddenly he had an armful of Lily. "Well, hello gorgeous."

"Where were you last night? Didn't you know which hostel was ours?" Lily smacked him on the arm. "We were worried! Weren't we, James?"

"Right, yes, of course," said James, rolling his eyes. "He went on ahead at sunset, so how could he have known we decided to push on after dark? He's obviously fine, cut the man some slack."

Lily huffed, not satisfied. "Yes, and where did you end up spending the night, then? Or don't I want to know?"

Sirius grinned and elbowed James. "Well, as it happened, I met a lovely witch upon entering the town, and oh the mischief we got up to--"

Lily smacked him harder but laughed anyway. "You're such a liar. You slept in someone's garden, didn't you?"

"Doorway." Sirius ignored Lily's superior expression. There was never anything so smug as a witch who liked to be right. "Oi, James, you were right, then," he said, mostly to change the subject.

"About what?"

"Wild bloodthirsty nocturnal desert beasts. I met a--" Sirius's pause was imperceptible. "--a spider."

"A _spider?_ " James mocked, and put on a high, ridiculous voice. "Oh my goodness gracious, how shall I, an educated wizard, cross the path of a tiny, harmless spider? Dear Merlin, whatever shall I do? And what could this thin length of wood in my hand be for?"

"Shut it, you prat, the spider was as big as a rat and crawling up my trousers."

"Sure it was, Sirius."

James continued to take the piss as Lily hauled them off to meet up with Peter. For some reason that Sirius couldn't pin down, he didn't want to talk about the wolf. At least the thing about the spider wasn't exactly a lie. But Sirius felt, somehow, that the wolf had been only for him.

The marketplace seemed to go on forever, and Sirius enjoyed the sights, sounds, and smells as they walked. Suddenly the street opened up, and Sirius found himself in a busy city square, facing three huge buildings encrusted top to bottom with those colorful tiles in intricate, geometric patterns he had seen on houses and storefronts in the marketplace. They sparkled in the sun, almost blinding him. They all appeared to have large, square facades, set into which were pointed arched reaching almost to the top. The facades on two of the three buildings were flanked by two taller minarets, also covered with tiles. The main buildings extended far behind the facades, and surrounded courtyards. One courtyard appeared to contain trees, and out of another rose a building topped with a bright blue dome. The entire complex was massive, and completely dominated the square.

"Hello lads! And Lily, of course." Peter pushed through the crowd toward them. "All right, Sirius, I'll say I was wrong, and this is pretty impressive!" He pointed at the building. "That's the university, founded by the ruler of the city. They do mostly clerical stuff for the muggle religion they follow here, but they also do philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, and some other subjects. Oh, and I've found the wizards!" Peter reached behind himself and clapped a brown haired man that Sirius hadn't even noticed on the shoulder. "This is Remus, he's a local. Well, not really, but he's close enough. He's at the university here, and he's a wizard, too." Though the man was dressed in the local manner of loose robe, trousers, and tunic, he was definitely not a native of Transoxiana. His coloring, facial features, and especially his name all marked him as a westerner. Sirius wondered what his story was.

Peter introduced Lily, James, and Sirius to Remus, who politely responded with what Sirius assumed was some sort of greeting in Persian. Lily immediately started gabbling to Remus in her traveler's Persian, and James appeared to follow along. Sirius mentally smacked himself on the forehead. Why hadn't he bothered to learn at least a little bit of the language? His string of naughty words certainly wouldn't impress this man. Who, Sirius noticed, was looking at him with friendly interest.

"Er, hi," he said, waving a hand pathetically.

"Oh, that's just sad," James said.

Sirius ignored him in favor of Remus, who smiled at Sirius and asked him something in Persian. Sirius shrugged. "I don't understand, sorry, mate." Remus seemed to get it. "Do you speak any other languages? One I might know?" Remus grinned and stuck his hands in the pockets of his robe, obviously not understanding.

At that moment, nothing mattered more to Sirius than to be able to say something, anything at all, to this man in a language he understood. So Sirius did the only thing he could think of. He ran through every greeting in every language he knew.

After ten minutes, it was clear that Remus not only didn't know English, but he also didn't know French, German, Italian, Russian, or Spanish. Then it hit Sirius: if Remus was a wizard, he must know some Latin! He rummaged in his head for some sort of Latin greeting. Remus shrugged for the seventeenth time. "Bugger! No Latin, how do you do spells?"

"I imagine they use a different language," said Peter. "I'll ask him, shall I?"

"No! Look, we've got to have a language in common. You said this bloke was bright, yeah?" Sirius screwed up his eyebrows in thought.

Remus piped up with a word that lit a spark of recognition in Sirius's brain. "What, Greek?" Remus nodded. "You know Greek?" Sirius shook his head and asked Remus again, but in Greek. Remus nodded again, and tipped a hand back and forth in the air. "Brilliant!"

Sirius was relieved to discover that Remus's command of Greek was as lousy as his own, and they immediately struck up a very limited conversation, mostly concerning the weather, Sirius's friends, and their immediate surroundings.

Remus led them off toward the university complex, pointing out the dormitories, the lecture halls, and the unique artistic designs on the madrasah facades, and then repeating everything in broken Greek for Sirius's benefit.

Lily asked a question in Persian, Remus answered, and James and Peter listened with interest. Sirius, trailing behind a little, tried not to pout but apparently failed, because Remus turned to him and explained in his terrible Greek, "Lily asked about the tigers on the building." He pointed up at an orange tiger with a human face on its back, chasing a small deer through flowers across the top of a facade.

"Don't the Muslims say it's taboo to show people and animals in their art?" Sirius asked.

"Many Muslims think it is, but if you read their Qur'an carefully enough, you'll find it's not. It's rare to see it in public, though," said Remus. "By the way, that one's called the Sher-Dor, the ‘Having-Tigers' madrasah."

Sirius grinned. "Easy to remember."

James tapped Remus on the shoulder, and Remus ended up repeating everything he and Sirius had said. He turned to Sirius and smiled wryly. "I'm going to have to teach you some Persian."

Sirius nodded, barely registering Remus's words. Merlin, he had a lovely smile.

The story of the floating church, as it turned out, was a result of Christian muggles confusing magic and science for a miracle. Remus explained how, with the blessing of the local prince, the Christians had appropriated a large stone from a Muslim mosque to use as the base of a large supporting pillar for the dome of their new church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. The Muslims were predictably insulted and angered by this, and, once the old prince died, petitioned the new prince to get their stone back. The new prince, who was also a follower of Mohammed, ordered the Christians to return the stone. The Christians knew their church would collapse without the support column, and so threw themselves upon the mercy of their saint. To their shock and delight, when the Muslims came to take the stone, the entire column appeared to lift itself off the ground. The stone slid away, but the pillar remained floating, unsupported..

"Yeah, but that's all in Marco Polo's book," said Sirius. "We knew that already."

"I don't know who this Marco person is, but I'm sure he didn't explain how the church remained standing, or how the pillar stayed in the air," said Remus, lifting an eyebrow.

"Well, no."

"A number of local wizards worked together in secret to lift the pillar, charm it featherlight, and fix it to the dome with a forever-sticking spell. The dome didn't fall down because whoever designed and built the church knew his physics." Remus shrugged. "So you see, not a miracle, just a lucky mix of magic and solid architecture."

"Brilliant!" Sirius whacked James on the shoulder. "So where is it? Can we see it?"

Remus's face fell a little. "Oh, no, sorry. The church was destroyed about sixty years ago when Timur and his army conquered the city."

"Oh." Sirius tried to hide his disappointment. He'd come so far, and the floating church had been gone since before he was born.

"But, er, there's plenty of other things, like..." Remus scratched his head self-consciously. "You haven't even seen the magical district yet, and there's the rest of the university-- oh! And the ruler of the city has commissioned an observatory to be built, the finest of its kind. Both wizards and non-magical folk are constructing it. You definitely need to see that."

Delighted by Remus's earnestness and concern, Sirius clapped his hands together. "Right, then! Where shall we start?"

He made sure to stick close to Remus's side for the rest of the day.

\---

For the evening meal, they ended up crowded around a small table in a noisy tavern in the wizarding section of Samarkand.

"...so I said, ‘If that really belonged to Alfred The Great, what's the chicken for?'" As Sirius expected, James, Lily, and Peter collapsed into laughter. He repeated the punch line to Remus, who looked confused. "What, I thought it was funny."

"Who's Alfred The Great?"

Sirius gaped. "Only the greatest king England has ever known! It's in the name, you see. Don't tell me you've never heard of him?"

Remus shrugged helplessly. Lily, Peter, and James, sensing the start of another conversation in abysmal Greek they'd once again be left out of, turned to talk amongst themselves.

Sirius hitched his stool closer to Remus's. "King Alfred's my personal hero. He forced the Danes to surrender most of England, brought about peace and prosperity, spread literacy and culture, and did more than he ever knew for magical folk, and seriously, you've never heard of him?"

"Sorry. He sounds like a very good king. Did you ever see him?"

"Er, no. He's been dead about six hundred years."

"Oh." Remus sounded surprised.

"Don't the people here remember their good rulers?"

Remus thought for a moment. "I think it's easier to remember the bad ones. Makes for better tales. But sometimes the bad ones do good things."

Sirius nodded, and they sat quietly for a while, drinking tea and munching on flatbread, while the other three had a lively discussion about the four uses of dragons' blood, whether dragons were native to Transoxiana, and what a native species might be like.

Remus poured Sirius more tea, and Sirius chose that moment to speak. "So, you're not from this part of the world originally, are you?" Remus startled, spilled the tea everywhere, apologized profusely, and tried to mop it all up with the sleeve of his robe while blushing terribly. Sirius pulled his wand out of his sleeve, waved the mess away, and dried Remus's robe. "Touchy subject, then?"

Remus picked up his cup and spoke into it. "Not here. Too many people." Sirius raised his eyebrows and said nothing.

Their party broke up after a while, James, Lily, and Peter all ready to go back to their hostel and get some sleep. Sirius was still restless, and didn't feel like calling it a night just yet. Remus didn't look tired at all, so Sirius tried his luck. "Is there anything good to see here after dark?"

"Come on, I'll show you the observatory. Night time is the best time to see it, anyway." Remus led him off through deserted streets and squares. The dust on the ground still held the last footprints of the evening, not yet blown away by the cool desert breeze. Sirius caught sight of a set of dog prints, and his mind leapt immediately to the wolf. He hadn't thought of it since that morning.

"Remus?"

"Yes?"

"You don't really have to take me to see the observatory right now, you know." The night wind ruffled Sirius's hair, chilling him slightly. "I'm sure you have, er, a wife, a family to get home to."

"No," Remus said simply.

The rest of the way was passed in silence. Remus made a gesture to keep quiet as they skirted a large, dark piece of high ground, full of ruined buildings and a feel of malevolent abandonment. As they left it behind, Remus whispered, "That was Samarkand Old Town. It's been deserted for a few hundred years now, except for the ghosts."

Sirius nodded. "Yes, I could smell them," he said absently.

Remus looked at him quizzically, but kept walking. "The observatory is just up here." He led Sirius to what was obviously a building under construction. They'd walked about a mile from the city, and the stars were far brighter away from civilization. "As far as we can figure, the sextant is the largest in the world."

"‘We?'"

"Ah, yes, didn't I mention?" Remus grinned sheepishly. "I'm helping to build it."

They poked around the sextant trench, and fiddled with the astrolabes and armillary spheres the muggles had left overnight. "This place could use a good moving sky globe, yeah?" Sirius said, setting one of the rings on the armillary sphere to spinning wildly.

"Then what would we need an observatory for?" Remus squinted down the trench. "This is all going to look much better when it's done, marble walls and tiles and all."

Sirius caught Remus giving him a sidelong look. Fine, if he wouldn't bring it up himself, Sirius would. "So, what's your story, then?"

Remus didn't pretend to not know what Sirius was talking about. He twisted his hands in his robe. "I don't know. Don't really have one."

"What do you mean, you don't know? You dress and talk like a native, but your face gives you away. You know a lot about magic, but as yet I've not seen you so much as levitate a feather. And--" Sirius cut himself off.

"And what?" Remus asked, looking at the ground.

"Well." Sirius cleared his throat. "I know we only met this morning so it might sound odd, but you're a bit of a puzzle, mate. I've always liked a good puzzle."

"An unsolveable puzzle gets tiresome after a while," said Remus, and sat down on a low wall. "I can do some magic," he said, waving a hand. A tiny whirlwind of dust rose from the ground, and shaped itself into a likeness of Sirius. Remus made it walk about, wave, and hitch up its trousers. Sirius laughed. "Nothing useful, though, and I've no formal training." Remus let the dust figure blow away.

"Brilliant, though."

"Thanks."

"Is that why you didn't use magic to clean up the tea earlier?"

Remus nodded. "When I'm surprised or flustered, I can't do magic at all."

Sirius thought it might be nice to see Remus flustered and blushing again, and then cursed his overeager imagination. "Why didn't you ever get any magical schooling? It's obvious you have natural talent."

"Oh, you've no idea," Remus said under his breath. "Honestly, I don't remember. There's a lot I don't remember about-- well, before coming here, anyway."

Sirius itched to ask about a million more questions, but Remus spoke again before he could. "Come on, then, let's teach you some Persian."

\---

Over the next several weeks, Sirius found himself spending as much time as possible with Remus. He wandered the city with him, ate meals with him, worked on construction of the observatory with him, learned quite a lot of Persian from him, and taught him as much English as he wanted in return. James had accused Sirius of favoritism, and Sirius cheerfully didn't deny it. Lily implied he was having thoughts about Remus, the kind that could get him in big trouble in this part of the muggle world, and Sirius didn't deny that either, though less blithely.

Even though Remus couldn't read roman letters, he was fascinated by the moving illuminations in Sirius's English books and scrolls. He loved the delicate pieces of Venetian glass, and the tiny Candian pottery figurines. In return, he showed Sirius his small collection of curiosities from the Orient: a little clockwork girl that danced when wound with a key, a piece of cloth covered in enigmatic symbols neither of them could decipher surrounded by stylized cherry blossoms, and a white pot with blue designs that Remus insisted was terribly valuable, though Sirius couldn't see how.

What Sirius loved most, though, was wandering the magical part of Samarkand with Remus. Inevitably, a herd of children would gather and follow them, begging Remus for a story. Just as inevitably, Remus would find an out of the way place to sit down and indulge them. Sirius still couldn't catch every word, but he managed to always get the gist.

"Once upon a time, there was a muggle king who ruled a vast empire." Remus waved a hand. The dust on the ground swirled up into a small cloud, and took the form of a tiny man with a crown. "He was popular with his people and wealthy beyond imagination, and he had a beautiful wife." Another little dust cloud shaped itself into a tiny woman. The dust-king and dust-queen held each other's dust-hands. "But one night he discovered that she had betrayed him, and in his anger he had her head cut off." With a flick of Remus's fingers, the dust-woman blew apart, and the children gasped. "Yes, it was horrible. But the king was so angry at his dead wife's betrayal that he didn't stop there. The next day, he chose a beautiful woman from the harem and made her his bride, only to have her head cut off as well in the morning." Remus shaped another tiny woman in the dust, and vanished her. "Then he chose another beautiful harem girl, married her, and had her head cut off in the morning too." A very little girl whimpered and crawled into Remus's lap. He smiled gently and held her hand. "The king continued like that every day until he'd married and killed a thousand women. What a terrible man!" The dust-king's face was angry, and the girl huddled close to Remus. "But on the thousand-and-first day, the king chose a woman from the city named Scheherazade. She was not only beautiful, but also happened to be an extremely clever witch."

Another tiny woman rose from the dust on the street. She waved a hand, and dust swirled from her hand into the air, representing the magic she could work. All the children's eyes lit up.

"She knew that she could use magic to escape death at the king's orders, but thought that might be a little too easy." Remus grinned at the children, and they laughed. "In the course of her studies, Scheherazade had read a great deal of poetry, and philosophy, and history, and she had it all locked safe in her memory--" Here Remus gave the dust-Scheherazade a dust-scroll to read "--along with her knowledge of astrology and magical animals and charms. She knew she had to do something to save herself, so she came up with a plan."

"What did she do?" A boy bounced up and down, too excited to contain himself. The rest of the children started to shout "Yeah!" and "Tell us!"

"All right, all right, I'll tell you what she did." Remus grinned, and Sirius couldn't help but grin too. Those kids were in the palm of Remus's hand. "That night, after they were married, Scheherazade told the king a wonderful tale."

"A story?"

"Yes."

"Like you're doing now?"

"Exactly." All the children stared at Remus, shades of disbelief and fascination on their faces. "She told the king such a marvelous tale that lasted the entire night; full of adventure and magic, and monsters and demons and a benevolent dragon, and the trickster djinn and the cunning girl and boy who outwitted him." Remus shaped all the creatures from dust and floated them above the children's heads. Then he sat the dust-king down before the dust-Scheherazade. "The king sat spellbound before Scheherazade, drinking in her tale with both ears. And just as rosy-fingered dawn peeked her head over the horizon--"

Remus looked up, above the children's heads. Sirius glanced in the same direction. A knot of women stared at Remus with unconcealed hostility. Remus vanished his dust creations, and carefully lifted the little girl out of his lap and onto the ground, to her displeasure. He stood up, and the kids all jumped to their feet and begged him loudly to finish the story. "Sorry, maybe another time. It looks like your mothers want you all off home now. Go on." The children dispersed in twos and threes, looking back at Remus as if his betrayal to them was worse than the muggle king's wife's betrayal ever could have been.

Sirius wandered over as Remus brushed the dust from his robe. "The children like you."

"And I like them." The two men walked up the alley, away from the people filling the main street.

"Their parents don't like you?" Sirius wanted to phrase it more considerately, but his Persian was still rather rough.

Remus didn't seem offended, but he was silent so long as they walked that Sirius was sure he either wasn't going to give an answer or didn't understand. They wound their way through narrow gaps between buildings and down streets that barely deserved the name, until Sirius realized they'd left the wizarding district completely. Sirius recognized the square ahead. Before they reached it, Remus pulled Sirius into a very narrow alley where they couldn't be seen from the square, and leaned against a wall. Sirius leaned against the opposite wall, facing Remus. "What--"

"Their parents more than don't like me," Remus said quietly. "They don't trust me." He didn't look at Sirius's face, but kept his eyes on the ground.

"Why not?" Sirius kept his voice low, but was indignant anyway. "You're-- forgive me, but you're harmless, Remus."

Remus lifted one corner of his mouth. "Harmless. I'm not sure about that, but I understand what you're saying." He looked up and met Sirius's eyes. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do," Sirius said immediately. "Got no reason not to."

"Would you meet me tonight? At the north city gates? I want to show you something."

"Yeah, when?"

"An hour after dark."

Sirius had no idea what this had to do with the children, their parents, or anyone's trust, but was madly curious all the same. "Right. I'll see you then."

Remus nodded, and left.

Sirius entered the square, and squinted up at the sky. It was early evening, and he had a few hours to kill before meeting with Remus again. He walked off, whistling. Maybe he'd pretend to be a muggle for a while, that was usually fun.

\---

Remus was waiting at the north gate when Sirius arrived there. The wind off the desert had picked up and Sirius was glad he'd worn his traveling cloak. Remus, on the other hand, was only in his robe, and wasn't even wearing sandals.

"Aren't you cold, mate?" Sirius asked, looking at Remus's feet.

"A little. It'll be all right in a moment." Remus jerked his head toward the desert. "Come on."

Sirius followed him through the oasis that Samarkand depended upon. When they reached the edge of it, they stopped and Sirius looked around. "So, the thing you wanted to show me is here?"

"Yes. Or, it will be, in a moment." To Sirius's complete surprise, Remus pulled his robe off over his head and hung it over a branch. He caught a glimpse of Remus's embarrassed expression even in the dimness, and looked away quickly. "Right. Please don't be frightened."

Sirius didn't have a chance to ask what he wasn't supposed to be frightened of. On the ground before him sat a large grey wolf.

He had read a thing or two about werewolves, and he knew that the transformation from man to beast was supposed to be excruciating. If Remus was a werewolf, he should have heard screams. Not to mention the moon should have been full (it was at third quarter), and also Sirius ought to have been very dead by now from a werewolf attack (he wasn't).

Sirius could barely think. He was terribly shocked, a little confused, the tiniest bit alarmed, but mostly utterly delighted.

"Remus?" He said softly, and more by instinct than anything else, he put his hand out for the wolf to sniff.

The wolf barked what was obviously an affirmative, and enthusiastically licked Sirius's hand.

"Bloody hell, it is you." Sirius crouched down, and the wolf-- _Remus_ shuffled closer, nudging his head under Sirius's hand. "All right, I get it," Sirius laughed, and scratched between Remus's ears. "Can you even understand me like this?" Remus didn't respond aside from leaning harder into the scratching, and Sirius realized he'd lapsed into English in his surprise. He tried again in Persian. Remus cocked his head at him, but didn't show any sign beyond recognition of his own name.

"Very canine of you," muttered Sirius. Remus flopped onto his side, presenting his belly for rubbing. "Nice secret, I like it. And since you were so polite as to share yours with me, I'll share mine with you."

Sirius closed his eyes, concentrated, and transformed himself into a big black dog. He rolled onto his back, exposing his belly. Remus barked in surprise, sniffed the offered belly, and then gave it a nip to let Sirius know who was in charge. Sirius accepted it, then jumped to his feet, front paws stretched out, head down, tail wagging wildly in the air: _Play! Playtime now!_ Remus seemed confused for a moment, then barked happily and wagged his tail hard. Both wolf and dog leapt to their feet, and chased each other beyond the oasis into the desert.

\---

Sirius flopped onto his back on the side of a sand dune, human again and exhausted. Remus half-heartedly pounced Sirius's legs, and laid there, panting.

"Good run, eh?" Remus's ears twitched, the only sign that he'd heard. "Oh, go on, change back. _Can_ you change back? I know you're not a proper werewolf, the moon's not full. Remus!" Sirius stopped himself before he started to whine. Not attractive.

The wolf shivered violently, and was suddenly a man again. An entirely unclothed one. Sirius quickly pulled his cloak off and tossed it over Remus, who was still shivering.

"Thanks."

"Glad I brought it. Now are you going to tell me the whole story, or what?"

Remus looked reluctant but resigned. "Can we go back to the oasis first? Clothes would be nice."

Luckily for them, they had led each other on such a roundabout chase through the dunes that the journey straight back to the oasis wasn't actually that far. They walked on shaky legs back to the tree where Remus had left his robe, and he shrugged it on. "We'll go back to my place. Get some tea and something to eat."

Sirius followed Remus on a circuitous path through silent streets and alleys, until they reached a building no different than any of the others. Sirius couldn't see how Remus knew which one was his, but he must have somehow. They descended a small staircase that wound around toward the back of the building, and Remus laid a hand on a rough wooden door at the bottom. "This is it. Don't laugh."

The door opened into a small room. Remus waved a hand and a few candles lit themselves. A straw-stuffed mattress sat in one corner, and in another sat a single chair and a table covered in parchment, books, and inkpots. A rickety set of shelves stood next to the table, filled to bursting with scrolls, books, quills, candle stubs, and other bits and pieces. At the foot of the mattress was a pile of what was obviously dirty laundry, over which Remus hastily threw a blanket. "Sorry about the mess; I never have visitors."

Sirius grinned. "It's brilliant." He picked up a cracked clay jar from the table. "Do you mind if I...?" Remus raised an eyebrow, and Sirius pulled his wand out and transfigured the jar into a chair. "You've only the one, and I'm sure neither of us fancy the floor right now. What?"

Remus's jaw had dropped. "I've only rarely seen magic like that. Maybe once or twice before."

Sirius stuffed his wand back into his robes and made himself comfortable in the chair. "Really? Me, James, Lily, and Peter can all do that sort of thing."

"Only very learned wizards can do that sort of magic around here. Where did you learn?"

"School. Hogwarts, in Scotland." Sirius watched while Remus fussed with tea and some bread and cheese, wanting to at least heat the water but unwilling to startle his friend with more casual magic. "Don't they have a school for magical children here?"

Remus put the food down on the table in front of them and sat down. "There is one, but it isn't close. I think it's in Nishapur. Most people here are taught by their families and neighbors."

"Except you."

Remus gripped his cup a little tighter, the only sign he gave of his frustration. "Look, I don't remember a lot of things. The oldest memory I have is a desert road, and running away from a man, and ending up here."

"How old were you?"

"I don't know. I was a boy; maybe ten years old."

"I remember plenty of things from before I was ten," said Sirius. "I once gave my horrible old bag of a mother a wandless stinging hex when I was five." One corner of Remus's mouth twitched upwards. "But we're talking about you. Ten's a bit late to be just forming memories, don't you think?"

Remus slouched back in his chair. "Yes. I do think that. Though I try not to." He looked so withdrawn at that, that Sirius thought he'd better shut up about that subject for a while.

And immediately thought of another he wanted to talk about. "Remus, about the wolf thing."

"The wolf thing." Remus apparently found that amusing. "Yes?"

"Who taught you how to become an animagus? It's not exactly the sort of thing you get from a spellbook."

"Become a-- a what?"

Damned Latin. "A wizard who can transform into an animal at will."

"Oh." Remus frowned. "Nobody taught me. It's just something I can do. And it isn't just a wolf; when I was younger I could do different shapes. But the wolf is my favorite, and now I can't shift to any other shape. So I don't think I'm... that thing you said."

"An animagus."

"Yes, that."

"So you're a... what do you call yourself?"

"Remus." Remus grinned.

"Smartarse. I mean, your ability."

"Shapeshifting, I suppose. It's not entirely unheard of in places that were once the old Persian Empire. Even the non-magical folk know about it, though they think it's just stories." Remus winced slightly. "It's why they don't trust me."

"They know?"

"Yes. I couldn't control it well when I was much younger, and people will panic when a wolf runs through the marketplace."

A tiny spark of a thought burst in Sirius's brain. "Remus?" He said carefully.

"Yes?"

"I might have an idea." He pulled out his wand again, but slowly. "Do you mind if I try something? I promise it won't hurt." Remus eyed it warily, but shrugged. Sirius raised his wand to Remus's forehead. Remus flinched. _"Quaero memoriae,"_ Sirius said, and moved the wandtip in a tiny circle.

Nothing happened.

"What was that?" Remus kept his eyes on Sirius's wand until it had disappeared under robes again.

"I had a thought. And I was right." Sirius hesitated a moment, then grabbed one of Remus's hands in his. "You were obliviated."

"I was what?" Remus stared at his captured hand in confusion.

"Oh bloody hell, I don't know the Persian for it." Sirius thought for a moment. "Someone changed your memory. Deliberately modified it with magic. Probably when you were about ten years old."

Remus was quiet a long time. "Well," he said finally, "everything makes a lot more sense now."

They sat together for a while, not speaking, Sirius still hanging onto Remus's hand. Eventually, Remus shifted and spoke. "I don't suppose there's any way to recover those memories?"

"Not that I can think of right now--" Sirius broke off with a yawn. "But I'm knackered. Maybe I'll be able to think of something in the morning." He reluctantly let go of Remus's hand and stood up. "Suppose I ought to find the hostel-- where are we, anyway?"

"You don't have to go," Remus said. "You could stay. For the night."

Sirius tried very hard not to show on his face that he felt as though all his solstices had come at once. "Yes, I suppose I could. If it's all right with you."

"I wouldn't have offered if it wasn't," Remus said, clearing up the dishes. "You can have the mattress, of course--"

"Nonsense, I won't put you out."

"It isn't big enough for two," Remus started, but stopped when Sirius pulled his wand out again. He smiled wryly. "Is that your answer to everything?"

Sirius twirled his wand between his fingers, and pointed it lazily at the mattress. "I don't know how muggles do it, honestly. _Engorgio_." The mattress swelled to twice its normal size, looking like a waterlogged sponge. "Will that do?"

Remus brought out blankets from an ancient wooden trunk carved with swirling clouds and bug-eyed dragons, and they curled up on opposite sides of the enlarged mattress. Sirius pretended to drop off immediately so Remus, who was lying too still to actually be sleeping, would stop feeling awkward and fall asleep too.

\---

Sirius woke before Remus, and tried to be silent as he got up and poked around the little room. Sunlight streamed through a small window over the door, lighting the room well enough that he could see to be nosy.

All the scrolls on the shelves were in the Arab script, which Sirius couldn't read. Some of them were illuminated beautifully, however, and he spent a few satisfying minutes admiring them. He wondered what they said, and if Remus had written and illuminated them. Most of the books Remus had were also in that indecipherable writing, except for one in Greek (a geometry text), one in Latin (dirty Roman poetry; Sirius grinned and tried to picture Remus reading it for fun until he remembered Remus didn't know Latin), and a very small one in English. Sirius's eyes went wide and he devoured the first page -- maybe it was a clue to Remus's past! -- but it turned out to be a treatise on the principles of charm invention.

Remus turned over, waking slowly, so Sirius heated water for tea, sat down at the table, and waited. He absently flipped through the little book and tried to remember everything he could about memory charms, occasionally scribbling a note or two on the corner of a handy piece of parchment.

"You're up," Remus muttered from under a pile of blankets. "Why didn't you wake me?" He untangled himself and stumbled from the bed to the chair. "Tea, lovely."

Sirius doodled on the parchment and grinned to himself while Remus gave two cups of tea his undivided attention. When he seemed a bit more aware of the world, Sirius asked, "Did you write those scrolls?"

"Some of them," said Remus, who had produced dried apricots from somewhere and was cutting the last of the bread. "Not the illuminated ones though; I'm no artist."

"What do they say?"

"Oh, you still can't read Persian. We'll have to fix that. They're mostly academic papers on a truly ridiculous number of topics, both wizarding and muggle. I like to read," Remus said, sheepishly.

"Which ones did you write?"

"Let's see," Remus said, and considered the shelves of scrolls. "There's one I wrote on the local magical creatures-- djinns, ifreets, that sort of thing. There's another in there on magical uses for mundane plants. And-- oh, this one's embarrassing-- when I was younger, I wrote an utterly bloated work on a correlation between the moon's phases and the heliacal rising of _al-shi'raa,_ which has since been soundly disproven. Don't know why I keep it around. Probably to remind myself that I don't know everything."

"Yes, and isn't it wonderful!"

Remus jumped, as though he'd forgotten Sirius was there. "What?"

"Not knowing everything. Means there's always something to discover. I find it comforting," said Sirius, munching on an apricot.

"I can see how that might be," said Remus.

"Written anything on shapeshifting?" Sirius asked bluntly.

"As a matter of fact, I have," said Remus lightly, but blushing all the same. "Not that anyone aside from me has read it."

"Can I read it?"

"Learn Persian script first."

Sirius was many things, but patient wasn't exactly one of them. "Will you read it to me?" He put on his best, most charming smile. "It'll help me learn." Not a hint of wickedness in that smile. The embodiment of innocence, that was him.

Not that he couldn't enjoy it when Remus's cheeks went from light pink to rose red. "Well. Er. Yes, I mean. Er, I suppose I could. Do that, yes..."

"Lovely! Now, I did some thinking about your memory problem while you were still asleep, and I think the best thing would be to track down James and the others; they know a thing or two about complicated charms, especially Lily, and they might think of something I missed."

Remus agreed to this, and the two walked to the travelers' hostel. Lily, James, and Peter were not there, but upon questioning the landlord, they learned that the three had gone to spend the day at the university.

"Wonder what they plan on doing there," said Sirius as they pushed the wrong way through a crowd of market-goers, earning dirty looks and elbows to the ribs.

"Maybe they'll sit in on some lectures," said Remus after cursing out a particularly rude elbower in so vulgar a vernacular that Sirius barely caught one word in eight, and the ones he did catch made his jaw drop. "There are plenty of things to be learned from muggles, you know. Or maybe they'll just gawk at the architecture like barbarian foreigners."

Sirius frowned at the term. "Is that what you think I am?"

"No! Of course not. Sorry, I shouldn't have said that." Remus looked annoyed with himself as they shoved their way through the dissipating crowd and were able to walk side by side again. "You're more like-- Sirius, I-- I appreciate your company."

Sirius laughed. "Now, was that so hard to say?" Remus's lips thinned, and he turned to keep walking. "Hey!" Sirius yanked him back by the arm. "I get that you're not the most popular person around here, but you're not some sort of--" Oh, Merlin on a thestral. If Sirius wasn't careful, who knew what would fall out of his mouth. "I appreciate your company as well."

Remus allowed a corner of his mouth to quirk upwards, and glanced at where Sirius was still gripping his arm. Sirius dropped it instantly. The quirk deepened into a proper smile, which Remus turned on Sirius, all curving lips and warm eyes.

And what defense was Sirius supposed to have against _that?_

Before he could do anything stupid or incredibly illegal, Remus turned away and walked on, leaving Sirius to trail after him like a puppy. Which, he wasn't too proud to admit to himself, he was.

After a bit of hunting, they managed to catch up with James, Lily, and Peter in an astronomy lecture.

"How fascinating!" Lily enthused afterward. "Before you boys got here, they were talking about the new observatory they're building to the northeast of here. It's supposed to have--"

"The largest sextant in the world, I know," drawled Sirius.

Lily scowled. "How do you know that?"

"Remus gave me a tour. He's helping to build it, you know."

James laughed at his wife being shown up, but Lily only tweaked his nose and turned to Remus, preparing to pepper him with questions.

"Sorry, Lily," said Remus, "it'll have to wait. Sirius and I have a question for the three of you." Sirius looked at his friends, who were obviously interested. "Let's find somewhere a bit more removed to talk, shall we?"

They sat under a tree in the courtyard of the madrasah, and Sirius told the other three of Remus's missing memories, and his own thoughts on the problem. Remus paled and looked away during the telling, but otherwise held up well under their scrutiny.

"Obliviate's tricky," said Lily. "A really well done memory charm is basically unbreakable, and won't deteriorate over time. Which, obviously, it hasn't. How old are you, Remus?"

Remus shrugged. "Your age, if I had to guess."

"So about twenty-five, then," said Lily. "That's about fifteen years of having a hole in your mind. So obviously whoever performed the charm knew what they were doing. Odd though, that you know you're missing memories. If obliviate is done right, you ought not to even know you're missing anything."

"It's his whole childhood, Lily," said Sirius. She nodded.

"I've heard of one way to break through a memory charm," said James, "but it isn't pleasant."

"Well, what is it?" Sirius asked.

"Torture," James said, cringing.

"Well of course that's right out," said Sirius. "None of us will have anything to do with that."

"Quite right," said James. "If the memories are regained, it's usually at the expense of the person's sanity. The brain is permanently damaged."

"Hang on," said Remus. "‘Usually'? It's my head, and they're my memories I'd like back; don't I get a say in this?"

"No one's going to _torture you_ to straighten your head out," said Sirius loudly. "You're bloody insane if you think any of us will." James and Lily nodded. "Peter!"

"Uh, right," said Peter, startled. "Sorry. Thought I, er, saw someone eavesdropping."

"Right, well, this has been a bit pointless then, hasn't it," said Remus. "Not that I don't appreciate your concern for me. Possibly I'll be able to find someone in the wizarding district who--"

"Who'll torture you?" Sirius demanded.

"Who knows a bit more about this obliviate spell," Remus said acidly. He stood, and Sirius reflexively got up to go with him. "Sirius... Maybe I should go do this alone. The people I'm thinking of talking to don't really care for outsiders, wizard or not."

"Fine." Sirius dropped to the ground again. Remus nodded to Lily, James, and Peter, and left.

Sirius covered his eyes with one hand. "Really ballsed that one up, didn't I."

James raised an eyebrow. "Quite possibly, mate."

"He's not stupid, you know," said Peter. "He's probably just gone to do exactly what he said he would. Anyway, I think I'm off to find something to eat, and then go back to the hostel and start packing. We head back in a few days, and the caravan waits for no wizard." He got up, waved, and left the courtyard.

"Pete's right, we really ought to start getting organized," said Lily.

"Yeah, well, can't do that if you're starving," said James, and hauled Sirius up by the arm. "Come on, dinnertime. You too, you sad idiot. Merlin knows what you'll do if we leave you alone."

Sirius sat through a dinner of tea, mutton pilaf, and James and Lily being terribly understanding and sympathetic at him. It was agony. He escaped at his first opportunity, ducked around a corner, and apparated to a spot near the observatory. The site was deserted, so he sat at the top of the sextant and looked down along it, and then up at the stars.

Really, Remus was an idiot. What kind of person wanted to get himself tortured, just so he could maybe regain some childhood memories? They probably weren't even very good memories, anyway. Probably just a bunch of stuff about boring parents, and kids' games, and wherever it was that Remus was from, and all right, Sirius wasn't so insensitive that he couldn't see why having those memories was important to Remus. But torture? Really? There had to be another way.

Not that Sirius had a clue what that other way might be.

And then there was the problem of Sirius's inclinations toward Remus. That brilliant smile earlier had given him, well, thoughts. And Lily was right, acting on that sort of thing could get them both in serious trouble here. Not that that stopped him. And Sirius couldn't imagine going back to England, never to see Remus again, with his friend still irritated with him. He'd have to set it right.

Sirius stood and took a last look out at the desert. The moon was full and huge, and the sand sparkled in the silver light. He would miss this place. He walked back to Samarkand by the light of the moon.

\---

As Sirius got closer and closer to the hostel, the anxious knot in his stomach worked itself tighter and tighter. Finally, he decided he'd drag James and Peter out to search for Remus, no matter how much Remus would hate him afterwards. He marched into the hostel, and flung open the door of the room he shared with Peter.

He froze for a moment in shock. There was Peter, wand raised, a look of intense concentration on his red face. And there, curled into a shaking ball on the floor, was Remus, his eyes clenched shut and his mouth wide open in a silent scream.

Sirius had his wand out in an instant, and wordlessly flung Peter against a wall. Peter collapsed to the floor in a heap, unconscious. Sirius fell to his knees at Remus's side, looking for obvious injuries. "Worthless little crawling piece of-- if he's permanently hurt you I swear I'll--"

"Sirius?" Remus whispered.

"Remus!" Sirius yelped. "Did he--" He belatedly switched to Persian. "How's your brain? Is it damaged? If it is, I'll kill the little rat--"

"I think I'm fine," groaned Remus, trying to sit up. Sirius helped him to his feet, and deposited him on one of the beds.

Sirius looked him over. Both eyes, both ears, ten fingers, one nose, talking like a person. These were all good signs. "You are an idiot," said Sirius, kneeling on the floor next to the bed.

"Well, yes, I realize that now," said Remus, carefully levering himself onto his back. "I wasn't exactly thinking clearly at the time."

They both looked up as Peter stirred, and Sirius hit him with a full body bind and a stunning spell for good measure. "He agreed to torture you, then? What did he use?"

Remus grimaced. "I don't know, but it hurt like hell."

Sirius thought it had probably been Cruciatus, but saw no point in saying as much. "So, the main thing is that you're all right. Are you? Do you think you might need a healer?"

Remus considered for a moment. "No, I'm all right. Just a bit achy. That was some curse Peter used." He looked up. "Sirius?"

Sirius found his hand caught in Remus's, and unthinkingly squeezed tight. "Yeah?"

"Could I have some water, please?"

\---

"So, Peter's been taken into the custody of the local magical law enforcement, whoever they are, and is hopefully being kept in a stinky little cell that isn't quite as nice as what they've got in Azkaban," said James, lounging on the bed opposite Sirius's in the hostel room. "They don't look kindly on curses here, it turns out, especially when used outside of wizards' duels. Apparently you have to apply for a permit to duel, and it takes forever to go through the right channels, and it has to be all ministry-sanctioned and that. Mad."

Sirius was packing his truck, only half-listening. "Mad," he echoed, rolling a robe around a delicate glass vase that would shrink and grow depending on what sort of flowers it held.

James pursed his lips. "Yeah, and they also have to get a license to have children, and they can't use silencing spells after sundown on alternate Tuesdays."

"Uh-huh." Sirius tucked a little straw-packed crate containing a tiny scale model of a sphinx into a corner of his trunk. It knew hundreds of riddles and scratched you if you got the answer wrong; his brother would love it.

"Oh for Merlin's sake!" James leaped to his feet and flailed his arms. "Just go see him!"

"Go see who?"

"Hello?" Remus's head poked around the doorway. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Nothing that shouldn't be interrupted," said James, and edged out of the room. "I'll just be off, then."

Sirius put down the leather case full of Ming potions ingredients and gestured at Remus to sit down.

"You're leaving, then?"

"Yes."

"Ah."

"So... Do you remember anything?" Sirius almost didn't want to know. He didn't want Remus to think what Peter had done was worth it. But if Remus remembered anything at all, it might be a place for him to start from.

"Not really," said Remus, and Sirius's shoulders sagged in relief. The torture hadn't worked, and Remus wouldn't be tempted to try it again. "Just images, strange pictures."

"Like what?"

"Trees, I think. And big hills. And everything was so green," said Remus, a bit awed.

They both fell silent, and then spoke simultaneously.

"Sirius, I--"

"Look, I thought--"

Remus raised a sardonic eyebrow, and nodded at Sirius to continue.

"I just-- I wanted to ask you..."

"Yes?"

"To come back with me."

Remus was quiet, and Sirius's heart sank. Then Remus smiled. "That's funny, because I was going to ask if you might want to stay here."

"I. Really?"

"Yes, really," said Remus, laughing.

"It's sort of a big question."

"So is asking me to come west with you."

Sirius stood up, blinked, flapped a hand pointlessly, and sat down again, completely at a loss. Remus sat patiently through Sirius's display of indecision.

Sirius thought of the things he would miss if he didn't go back to England. His parents, not a chance. To hell with them. His brother, yes, he'd definitely miss Regulus. James and Lily, absolutely. Quidditch, all right, a little, if he were perfectly honest.

But all those things added up to surprisingly little. He'd fallen too much in love with this city, its language, its magic, and its people. Especially one person in particular. Too much to leave it behind.

"Yes."

"Yes?"

Sirius nodded. "I'll stay."

Remus's eyes lit up, and he grinned like a large grey wolf. "Good."


End file.
